Future Death Toll
by wicked18writer
Summary: Sookie's telepathy goes haywire & she collapses at work can Eric & her friends save her in TIME? Also not so friendly visitors are looking for her, what do they want? -Sam/Sookie friendship -Eric/Sookie heavy in future chapters  Post-D
1. Influences

Future Death Toll

**Summary: **Sookie's telepathy goes haywire & she collapses at work can Eric & her friends save her in TIME? Also not so friendly visitors are looking for her, what do they want? -Eric/Sookie heavy in future chapters **(**Post-D&G)

**Rating:** T for language and suggestion

**Author:** wicked18writer

**Spoilers:** Set after 'Dead & Gone', may include some things from 'Dead in the Family' & 'True Blood' later on.

**A/N: **See bottom note for all quotes/references. And I'm gonna try doing this fic from multiple person's POV. Also I'm gonna use a mix of the show and the book's version for some of the characters, like Terry and Tara. Also other people thoughts are in '_italics_' and this '-' means that train of thought got cut off.

…..!…!…..

Chapter 1

Sookie was tired of being a waitress. She had a killer headache, and as result she was having trouble blocking out people's thoughts. Her cheeks hurt from maintaining the signature manic smile on her face. Her feet hurt from being on them all dang day. Her right arm was throbbing from having to carry a heavy food laden tray around. All in all, she was pooped.

She smiled at Hoyt and told him, she'd be right back with his sandwich. _'Man oh man, Sookie's got a fine behind, heh heh, that rhymed." _She ignored his thoughts about her ass as she walked over to the kitchen. '_Needs salt-' 'I can't believe I lost my phone-' 'Why doesn't this crappy little town have a better mall? How am I supposed to find the perfect prom dress in-'_ _'Hello! Blondie! We need another pitcher of beer here!' _Sookie also tried to ignore everyone else's thoughts, but it really wasn't working. Thankfully she knew Merlotte's like the back of her hand, she could do her job on muscle memory if she had too, also it helped that it was right before the dinner rush on a Thursday.

Sookie handed Hoyt's order over to Terry without saying a word. Terry was currently her favorite person in all of Merlotte's, because Terry wasn't thinking at all. He was just repeating the song 'Hallelujah' by the Vitamin String Quartet over and over. He thought it was soothing and she thought it sounded like happiness. He was doing his job just as mechanically as she was.

After receiving a grunt of acknowledgement from Terry, Sookie turned and made her way over to the bar where Sam was making small talk with her brother Jason. '_Maybe I'll see-' _

"I need a pitcher of Budweiser for the guys in the corner booth." Sookie told her boss, interrupted their conversation rudely, but too tired to care. _'Next full moon I'm gonna-'_

"Buck up cher, twenty more minutes and then you can get out of here." Sam verbally patted her on the back as he poured the beer. _'I hope she's okay, I don't know why she would want to get back to work so soon after being tortured.' _Sookie said nothing in response, just nodded to Sam in thanks as he put the pitcher on her tray.

_'Sookie looks like crap. I wonder if anyone else has noticed?' _

"You look like road kill run over twice Sis, when you get home, you make sure t'eat a good supper 'fore you get to bed alright?" Sookie smiled at her brother's show of concern. He had really been trying to be more considerate of her feelings and caring towards her in general, unfortunately this was a new concept for him and he had yet to master it.

"That's real nice of you to say Jason, thanks!" Sookie responded sarcastically as she picked up her tray of beer and turned to leave.

"C'mon don't get all bent out of shape Sook, you know what a meant." Jason huffed and took another swig of beer. _'Snappy comebacks and sass are alls I ever get just for trying to be nice.'_

Sookie quickly turned back and put down her tray and glared at her brother. Of course with Jason, all of his consideration and caring never translated into him actually doing anything for her, like say leaving the bar early to go home with her so he could cook dinner for her because she was so tired and it was a nice thing to do for one's _only _family in this universe…but not Jason, all he offered her were empty words. Sometimes Sookie wondered what her life would have been like if she had had the kind of older brother you saw on old T.V. shows like "7th Heaven", "Party of Five", or even "the Brady Bunch".

"What?" Jason looked at her with his big doe eyes, all quizzical and confused. Sookie just knew that the same look had probably made dozens of girls melt out of their panties, but it was a look Sookie had seen far too often on her brother's face and at this point it just plain pissed her off. So, she smacked her befuddled brother upside the head, ignored his question of 'Hey! What's the big idea?' picked up her tray and turned around to go do her job.

!

Sookie waited on her remaining table with little effort in the charm department, as she was literally counting down the minutes until her time there was up. Her head was really starting to throb and her muscles were aching and all her extremities were starting to tingle.

As her table of rowdy young men left, she wasn't surprised to see they left her a less than stellar tip in response to her less than stellar service. As she bussed the table the men had vacated she glanced over at the clock by the bar and was suddenly struck with the memory of reading from her quote of the day calendar that morning. It had said, "Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them." Before she had time to dwell on that thought, Sookie saw Holly walk in to Merlotte's carrying her five-year-old son Cody.

As Holly made a beeline for Hoyt, Sookie practically ripped her apron off. _'Overcooked should send it back-' She_ then went the bar and playfully threw the rag she had been using to wipe down the table, at her brother's head.

"I'm leaving." She announced to Sam, _'Not yet-' 'Sassy Smartass!' 'Thank God Hoyt can watch Cody tonight or-' 'I need more ketchup where'd my waitress-' 'Cody is such a cute kid—' 'Love those shorts Merlotte makes these girls-'_

"Sook-" Sam started to say her name but Sookie just turned and ran for Sam's office. She just wanted to retrieve her purse, to get to her keys, to get in her car, to get away from everyone's thoughts, and to get the heck home while she was still conscious.

As she was exiting Sam's office, she bumped into Sam as he was trying to enter. Forcing her to take two quick steps back and almost topple over. Sookie braced herself by grabbing onto the door with one hand and stretching the other hand to help her balance as well as her left foot. Sookie shut her eyes tight and hoped not to fall. _'Whoops, almost lost my best waitress… again.' _

Apparently her little weeble wobble act caused Sam to chuckle a little to himself. Which only annoyed Sookie more as she was having trouble staying upright due to the unrelenting torrent of thoughts traipsing through her brain. Frankly she thought that at this point, anyone who got in her way of her going home _right that minute_ was obviously evil and in need of smiting. Sookie looked up at the ceiling half expecting a lighting bolt to zap Sam in the tushie.

'_What's she looking at?' _ Sam copied her ceiling stare, but when it was evident that lightning was not going to be forthcoming she dragged her gaze back down to the kind eyes of her beloved boss/BFF. BFF in this case meaning Best Furry Friend.

"Hey Sookie before you leave, I need to ask if you can cover for Holly this Friday? She's got to be a chaperone on her kid's field trip and I thought the new girl, Gianna, could fill in for her…"

"But she nearly got fired yesterday for decking a redneck who grabbed her ass and won't be able to handle all the traffic on a Friday night." Sookie finished Sam's sentence, casting her gaze away from his face to stare at the wall. Yesterday was a day Sookie would rather forget and have everyone else forget too, especially Sam.

"So could ya…" _'Please say yes, please say yes.'_

Sookie closed her eyes as she began to see black dots in front of her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose she took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly.

"Sure. What time do ya need me?" _'Oh thank god! For a second there I thought I was gonna have 'a real crisis on my hands, wait a second,' _Sam tilted his head a little to the side. '_Does Sookie look a little flush?' _

"I'm fine Sam, just been working since we opened, barely ate lunch, and I haven't exactly been getting a lot of sleep lately." Sookie looked into Sam's eyes and saw genuine worry for her welfare. Sookie smiled at his sincerity.

"You sure your up to it cher? I could find someone else if your not feeling up to it after…you know your recent ah—incident." Sam brought the back of his hand up to her forehead, '_her temperature's a little warm but its not a full blown fever, maybe I should get central air for the bar-'_ then he let his hand fall down the side of her face till he was cupping her cheek. _'She's pushing herself too hard and I'm not helping by enabling her'._

"You're not enabling me by giving me hours to work." Sam's head jerked back just a tad in surprise as she responded to the thoughts in his head rather than the words that came out his mouth.

"Cher, we all know that when you have issues you have to deal with, you don' t deal with them, you avoid them with other tasks so that your too tired to think 'bout your problems or anything else for that matter." Sookie closed her eyes and let herself relax into his touch.

"You can talk to me cher, or you can not talk to me, just make sure your not bottling up all that emotion you got." Sam grabbed her chin getting her attention, forcing her to look into his eyes. _'Her hearts so big, she keeps this up all that fear and pain is gonna make her explode'. _

"You know what I take it back. Your not working tomorrow, your gonna take your day off as planned, and I'll call Tanya over in Hotshot." Sookie gave Sam a watery smile and then stepped forward to hug the man who loved her even though he knew she would never reciprocate the romantic feelings he had for her, even though she kept dragging him into vampire shit, even though she kept taking unannounced absences from work, even though she didn't deserve him.

"I'm not even gonna pretend to fight you Sam, cause your right, I'm exhausted and I don't think I should come in tomorrow, I might snap and have a meltdown in front of the customers, again." _'Yeah, yesterday was a rough one for us'. _Sam continued to hold her tight, supporting all her weight as she let go of some of the stress she had been holding onto after the argument she and Sam had yesterday concerning Gianna the new waitress.

"You know you're the best part of my real family right Sam?" She and Sam pulled back from the embrace at the same time. _'God knows Sookie deserves a better family than just Jason.'_

"Jason is making an effort, which doesn't mean a lot in reality, but does count for something." Sookie readjusted the purse strap on her shoulder, ready to just get home already.

"I guess…anyway, let me walk you out Cher." When she had arrived that morning the delivery truck had been in the back blocking the employee parking lot, so she had parked out front.

"I gotta run to the restroom before I scoot, I'll see ya on my way out." Sookie smiled as Sam pulled his door shut and walked back towards the bar where he would take up his usual station at the bar.

Once inside the bathroom Sookie went to the sinks and turned on the cold water. She cupped her hands and threw the icy cool liquid in her face. The cold made her gasp and the gasp from the cold made her think of Eric. It was a little after six now, the sun would set soon and then it would be dark. Sookie decided she'd call Eric and leave him a message to come over at eight. That way she could eat something and take a nice long bath before he got there. She was thinking a nice tranquil evening filled with some serious snuggling and maybe a full body massages and then after that maybe some full body sex where she didn't do any of the work. Now that sounded downright heavenly!

!

As Sookie exited the restroom and headed for the front, she steeled herself for the volume spike that was bound to occur when she was once again in close range of people en mass. She breathed deeply and then entered the room.

Sookie felt like she went from floating on water that was at a dead calm, to fighting to keep her head above water during a hurricane while wearing cement shoes whilst being attacked by a thousand stinging jellyfish.

'_I don't like pickles—' 'I could marry a girl like Holly—' 'Hoyt's so cool I wanna be just like him—' 'Damn baby stop kicking me when I'm eating' 'Tara's so pretty, and the pregnancy's done awesome things for her boobs' 'I wonder if he noticed—' 'Can't I catch a br—' 'Don't-' 'See! I told-'_ _'Now—' 'Indefinable quality—' 'Green Lantern movie-' 'Oh no cher!'_

And that was all she heard until she hit the floor with a resounding 'THUD'.

!

Sookie was in pain. It was overwhelming and not unlike her recent escapade with the fairies she affectionately called Thing 1 and Thing 2. However unlike the torture she received at the hands of the Things, this pain was akin to being dipped into molten lava fondue style. It felt like every cell—every atom of her being was on fire. She felt like her whole body fell asleep and then someone catapulted her body into the sun, because she had that pins and needles feeling everywhere and everywhere she could feel felt like the sun itself was licking her all over.

She was amazed that she didn't spontaneously combusted yet, she certainly felt like she was about to. In fact she was amazed she was able to form any thoughts at all, she was in such agony, but…she supposed that her time with Things 1 & 2, had increased her pain threshold considerably. Sookie knew she should be more afraid or worried about what was happening but it was like she was emotionally disengaging from herself, like a balloon floating away, but it was weird because she was still totally aware of the pain and in the moment.

She couldn't move. She couldn't feel any part of her body. She couldn't even open her eyes. She could hear though, of course that's the one sense she wouldn't mind losing for a while but as her Gran used to say, beggars couldn't be chooser. So, she tried to sort through all the thoughts and emotions and real sounds she was hearing in an effort to decipher what was going on.

"Watch her head!" That was Sam.

_'Jackass!'_ "I am Jackass!" And that was Jason. They were carrying her, Jason at her feet, Sam near her head.

"Let's just lay her down real slow like on my bed." Sookie felt her self being placed on a soft surface; she assumed it was the bed in Sam's trailer in the back of Merlotte's. Sookie surmised she must have been unconscious for a bit because she remembered when she fell due to the telepathy overload, she was in Merlotte's. She sighed internally, lamenting the loss of the tranquil sex/massage filled evening she had planned.

"I'm gonna run back inside and calm everyone down and call Eric. Get him to get his undead ass over here the second the sun's gone." That was her Sam, always there for you in a crisis. _'Maybe I can even dig up Dr. Ludwig's number.' _She felt a slightly callused hand brushing the hair out of her face, then she felt the hand lay flat on her forehead. _'Jesus! She's burning up!'_

"Wait Sam, she's burning up, what should I do?" She felt another hand on her head. _'She was fine before.'_

"Sam what do I do? Should I, should we give her ah, one of those ice baths? Tylenoll? Bayer? How are you so sure that this isn't related to her recent torture session? Shouldn't we call the hospital? Get an ambulance here?"

"Jason will you shut the hell up I can't hear myself think!" _'Jesus. Shit. Jesus. I don't know what to do. I don't know if-maybe an ice bath will bring her temp- what if she catches hypothermia—we definitely shouldn't be shoving pills down her throat—Call Eric & Ludwig—Ludwig first—hope Terry isn't freaking out all alone—Jesus. Not Sookie, not after all she's already—girl just can't catch a break—I love her so much—don't die'_

"Go into the bathroom get a hand towel, wet it, ring it out put it on her forehead, and get one behind her neck, and behind her knees, and just sit here with her till I get back." Sookie felt Sam's hand cover her unresponsive one and then she heard him think '_Sookie if you can hear me you hang on you hear, you fight to stay right where you are. I love you cher. Your brother loves you. Eric loves you. Your friends need you. Don't leave us just yet.' _Sookie could feel the bed shaking a little bit. She wondered if Jason was crying or just jiggling his leg or something.

"Don't you shake your head at me boy, get to it, I gotta go back inside to find the doc's number, just take care of her." Sookie heard Sam's footsteps and she heard the door slam against the frame as he left.

'_Don't die Sookie. I know you can hear me. I love you, you're my baby sis, and I promise if you get better I'm gonna be a better big brother. I promise'_ Sookie really wanted to be able to call him a liar at that moment, instead she listened to him get up and go into the bathroom. She was listening to Jason open cabinets and then she heard him turn on the water.

And then she felt as if she was being suffocated. It hurt, everything hurt. She couldn't breathe; there was no air in the room. The pain was magnifying, getting bigger, stronger. She could feel her heart slowing down until it stopped completely. If her heart wasn't beating the flow of blood to her brain would stop and then-light. She saw a light so bright that it was blinding even with her eyes closed tight. It was brighter than the sun and twice as hot and also pink. And then it was gone and so was she….

!

"The future influences the present just as much as the past." –Friedrich Nietzsche

!

"OMG! It freaking worked!" A familiar peppy voice greeted Sookie as she came back to reality. She once again felt connect with her body. She was no longer in pain. The inferno that had been silently broiling her to death had disappeared and been replaced with a gentle breeze. This was good news if not a bit unexpected.

No longer was she paralyzed, she learned as she wiggled her left foot and twitched her nose. And no longer was she mute, "What work?"

It took Sookie more effort than it should have to force out those two short words, but she managed to do it. She heard a loud gasp in response to her whispered question. In fact she was fairly certain that she heard more than one gasp, although she could just be hearing things after inexplicably nearly dying.

"Holy crap! She's HUMAN…." Said the familiar voice as Sookie heard and felt someone sniff her hair. "Well, human-ish."

And that's when Sookie learned she was no longer blind as she opened her eyes and was greeted by a familiar face smiling down at her.

"Hi Sookie!"

!

…..!…!…..

To Be Continued…Soon-ish!

**A/N: REVIEW ME PLEASE! **

**Theories, likes, dislikes, questions, comments, encouragement, critique and declarations of undying devotion are all welcome so please don't be shy.**

**Also AUTHOR'S NOTE, so here are some quote/references I found at if your interested in self-edification or just curious: **

1) "The future influences the present just as much as the past." –Friedrich Nietzsche

2) "Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them." –Dion Boucicault

ALSO SEE MY PROFILE PAGE TO VOTE ON WHO'S point of view THE NEXT CHAPTER SHOULD BE IN!S

Also just gave me a little chuckle I'd thought I'd share, following watching True Blood on SUN with the awesome Eric/Talbot sexy times, I wrote in the first paragraph 'Man on Man' instead of 'Man oh man'.


	2. Abyss

**A/N: **I have big plans for this fic so I hope you'll bare with me on the cliff hangers. Also I'm gonna use at least one quote in every chapter and I will list them at the bottom and give credit to who said them so you guys know I'm not trying to steal them. Also I hope to update at least every 3 days or earlier. So enjoy and please review.

…..!…!…..

Chapter 2

When Jason entered Sam's bathroom his first thought was that his bathroom was a lot nicer than this one. Then he began a search for the a towel to use as a cold compress. When he found one, he ran it under the cold water and just as he was about to squeeze out the excess water—Light. Through the open bathroom door came a massively bright pink light. It seemed so bright that it swallowed the room whole until all he could see was the light. And in one second it consumed him and everything around him, and in the next second, it vanished.

"Shit." Jason closed his eyes and then pressed the palms of his hands into them rubbing his sore eyes. When he opened his eyes again he expected to see Sam Merlotte's bathroom, but all he saw was-darkness.

Jason again, closed his eyes, and then opened them again, but again, all he saw was darkness. He then reached out his hand towards the faucet and managed to turn it on. He threw some cold water on his face in hopes that his would clear his vision and fix everything, but it didn't work.

"This is not fucking happening." He was starting to panic because all he could see was black emptiness. An abyss of nothingness. It scared the shit out of him. _What the hell was that light? Am I blind? Did Sookie do this to me? Did somebody do the same thing to her? _

"Sookie!" Jason called out, but he got no response. He was really scared. Not only for himself, but for Sookie too. He didn't know what to do. He'd never been so disabled. So helpless.

"I'm not blind. I just can't see right now." He told himself as he accidentally knocked the dropped the cold compress he had been making up for his sister, onto the floor. He squatted down to find it but just managed to bang his head on the sink. At which point he decided to abandon the wet cloth all together. Sookie and him had bigger problems than her fever right now. He was blind and either she did some sort of evil light show, or someone or something had just done it to her.

Jason started to reach out with his hands looking for the door. Leaving one hand on the wall he felt his way back out to the 'bedroom' of Sam's trailer. He also knocked down a few framed pictures, but he didn't hear any shattering glass so he considered things to be all good.

"Ah!" Jason called out when his knees hit the bed causing him to fall forward onto his sister.

"Sorry Sooks." Jason patted his comatose sister's arm or possibly her leg—"Oh god no."

Jason reached out and in a totally platonic way felt his way up his sister's body until he found her head, specifically her forehead. Her fever was gone.

"Well that's good." And then it occurred to him, not only was her fever gone, her skin was almost cold. Quickly he slapped one hand to his own forehead comparing his own temperature to that of his little sister.

She was so cold. Ice cold. In fact it seemed to Jason that all the heat was gone from Sookie's body completely, like someone just sucked it right out of her.

"SAM! SAM MERLOTTE! HELP! SAM!" Jason grabbed his sister's lifeless arms and tried shaking her awake. She didn't move or make a sound and Jason was freaking out. _Should I slap her? _

Jason really wanted to run away. But he couldn't see and he didn't know what that light was and he was really worried about himself but he was also worried about Sookie. She might be a lot of trouble, but she was his sister and he really did love her.

"Wake up please." He whispered as he hugged his baby sister to his chest. He knew he should have called 911 when Sookie first collapsed in the middle of Merlotte's, but Sam convinced him not to. That asshole.

He knew what he really didn't want to do because if the answer was what he thought it was then he would be all alone in the world…. but someone had to do it and he was the only one there, and Sookie was his sister after all. So Jason blindly felt around Sookie's face with his hands until he found her neck. And then he did that thing on T.V. where you put your two fingers against the pulse, or what he thought was her pulse. And he waited.

And nothing happened.

He waited for Sookie's pulse to pulse but it didn't. It couldn't. _She's not dead._

"Maybe I'm not doing it right." Jason didn't want to believe that Sookie was dead but he also didn't wanna feel up his sister trying to check for a heartbeat. _Talk about awkward. _And he even if he did find one, he couldn't see so he wouldn't be able to help her right now. Not that he could help her even if he could see. _Seriously what could I do for her? I'm no doctor. I ain't got no magically healing powers. What the fuck kind of big brother am I? The shitty kind that's what. _

"Sookie, I know you can hear me, cause you can always hear me, even when I don't want you to. And I'm gonna go get Sam, you just wait here till I get back." Jason tried to kiss her cheek but he got her nose instead.

Jason then got up and with a lot of effort and banging into things slowly made his way out of Sam's trailer. Once he got outside the door of the trailer he stopped, he didn't know how far away the bar was from the trailer. He couldn't remember if there were any obstacles in his way.

"Fuck it all to hell. " Jason just decided to take a step forward and see what happened. Nothing happened. So he kicked out his leg a little trying to see if he would trip on anything if he kept walking. If he kept going with this start stop kick walk, way of moving, it would take him a long time to reach the bar. So he decided to just stay put and scream.

"SAM! HELP, SAAAAAAAM!" Jason shouted, and then he finally heard what he'd been waiting for. The sound of a door opening and someone coming to help him.

"Jason?"

!

All my life, as down an abyss without a bottom. I have been pouring van loads of information into that vacancy of oblivion I call my mind. – Logan P. Smith

!

Eric awoke from his daytime death the moment the sunset. And as soon as he had done so, he wished never to awaken to this world again.

Quickly he ran to his discarded pants that were lying on the floor of his bathroom. In the left pocket was the item he was looking for.

He impatiently waited for his phone to turn on, staring at the little glowing screen as if it held all the answers in the universe. Seeing he had several voicemails he set them up to play on speakerphone. He then got dressed at vampire speed.

"First message." A robotic voice rang out as he grabbed a tru blood out of the mini frig by his bed.

"Eric, its Sam Merlotte. Sookie passed out at the end of her shift today, but I know she was distracted and having a hard time with her telepathy all morning so I didn't wanna get her to a hospital if they couldn't do anything for her. When you wake up you should get your ass over here. Me and Jason put her in my trailer to rest. I already called Dr. Ludwig and she said she'd be over in an hour or so. I'm real wor—"

"Next message." Eric ran into his weapons closet that was located behind a false wall in his real closet.

"Northman, it's Dr. Ludwig, I will be charging your account for the care of the Stackhouse girl again. I will see you in an hour Vampire."

"Next message." He decided to take one of his oldest swords with him. He had one many battles with the double-edged, straight bladed weapon in his hand and he would relish using it on anyone who dared harm his lover.

"ERIC! It's Sam. I…I left Jason alone with Sookie while I called you and the Doc. But, but, shit! They're both gone man. Completely gone, and thing is Eric, before I left to find the Dr. Ludwig's number Sookie had a really bad fever. I'm, I don't know what to do, I'm gonna shift and try to track them but…who the hell are you?" The shifter said the last part away from the phone as if he was talking to some one else.

"You have no more messages."

Eric felt the urge to cry come over him but he pushed it away. The shifter confirmed his greatest fear. Something catastrophic had happened to his beloved, just as he feared when he awoke and could not feel her through the blood bond.

Eric made his way out of his house as fast as vampirically possible and then took to the sky. As he flew towards Bon Temp, he called to Pam through the bond forged between maker and child and knew that when he arrived she would be there to help him search for the woman he loved.

Sookie Stackhouse was the only weakness he had allowed himself to indulge in. Her frailty was his frailty. Her vulnerability was his vulnerability. And unfortunately there was a very long list of suspects who knew this. Knew how closely he and Sookie had been bound, before and after the blood bond.

"I am coming for you Sookie." He said the words aloud and thought them, and tried to send them to her through the blood bond that he feared no longer connected them because Sookie Stackhouse was dead.

!

…..!…!…..

To Be Continued…Soon-ish!

**A/N: REVIEW ME PLEASE! **

**Theories, likes, dislikes, questions, comments, encouragement, critique and declarations of undying devotion are all welcome so please don't be shy.**

**Also I have no beta, but I am making an effort to try and reread my stuff before I post it, so all mistakes are mine, but! Please note that some of the bad grammar is intentional because some people don't go around speaking all loquaciously a.k.a. fancy pants style. However all spelling mistakes are just errors and I have no way to justify them except carelessness and stupidity. **

**Also AUTHOR'S NOTE, so here are some quote/references I found at if your interested in self-edification or just curious: **

1) All my life, as down an abyss without a bottom. I have been pouring van loads of information into that vacancy of oblivion I call my mind. – Logan P. Smith


	3. Ordinary

**A/N: **I was a bridesmaid at a wedding so I've been very busy but I hope to update at least every 3 days or earlier. But my computer is dying and having real trouble turning on, and my laptop doesn't have mircosoft word, so I will try to update often but, in the future the formatting might be off. So enjoy and please review.

A/N: **Again thoughts are in **_italics. _

_Also I don't know if I can claim the words 'manpire' and 'manimal' but I think there funny words so I just thought I'd bring them a little bit of attention up here in the A/N. _

ALSO THANK YOU TO everyone who put this story on Alert and who Favorite'd it and Favorite'd me. I really appreciate it!

…..!…!…..

Recap: 

"I am coming for you Sookie." He said the words aloud and thought them, and tried to send them to her through the blood bond that he feared no longer connected them because Sookie Stackhouse was dead.

Chapter 3: Ordinary

"SAM! SAM MERLOTTE! HELP! SAM!" Sam's shifter hearing had picked up on Jason's panicked cries but he couldn't leave his office until he found Dr. Ludwig's number. If Sookie was getting worse or god forbid dying out there, well, he wouldn't be much help, but Dr. Ludwig would be.

Sam ripped open the last draw in his desk and shuffled through the papers he found there. Then he tried the second to last draw. Again, he found goose eggs. Now, he was highly agitated so when he pulled on the last draw he pulled it out completely, he then dumped the contents on the floor, searching for a slip of paper or a post-it with the Doc's number. "Shit."

He couldn't remember wear he put the Doc's number. In fact Sookie was always laughing at him whenever he had to do the books for the bar, as he didn't have a rolodex but instead wrote phone numbers on the tops of whatever paper was usually lying around. Sam turned to his filing cabinets, but didn't approach them because he knew he wouldn't have filed it with his tax info or any of the other bar related papers he stored in there.

"Where the fuck is it?"

Sam Merlotte did not often watch TV, even less frequently did he watch cartoons when he did watch TV but, he had seen at least two episode's of Nickelodeon's 'Jimmy Neutron' so when he finally remembered where he put the phone number he couldn't resist quietly proclaiming "Brain blast!"

Sam ran over to his monthly calendar. He flipped it back one month to May and there it was. Dr. Ludwig's number. He had written it down there when Eric had called about Sookie's behavior post-fairy-trauma. They had been in touch a lot more frequently now that Sookie was back at work. They were both worried about her and they didn't want their favorite waitress having a mental or physical breakdown. So they had put aside their hatred of each other and each other's species and kept each other apprised of Sookie's schedule and mood on a almost weekly basis. As a result of his concern for Sookie, Sam had endured countless backhanded and outright insults from Eric. Sam would rather eat glass than ask Eric for anything, especially help, but Sam knew as soon as he got hold of the Doc, his next call would be to Eric. Sam now believed that Eric loved Sookie, more than his progeny, more than the rest of humanity, and maybe just maybe more than himself.

Hurriedly Sam pulled out his cell phone and dialed the Doc's number. It rang twice before someone picked up. "This is Sam Merlotte," he spoke not giving whoever was on the other end a chance to speak or as Sam feared, put him on hold.

"I am with Sookie Stackhouse, the bonded of the Louisiana Area 5 vampire Sheriff Eric Northman, and she has a massive fever and has collapsed and cannot be roused. She passed out while working in my bar and is now resting in the trailer behind my bar." Sam ran a worried hand over his face and through his hair as he tilted his head to the side listening to more shouts from Jason.

"Dr. Ludwig needs to get here now. Money is no object. Please come immediately." Sam wanted to hang up and just run out to Sookie, but he waited for a response. He heard someone relaying his message to someone else, he guessed to the Doc. A high-pitched female voice finally responded, "Dr. Ludwig is with another patient right now, but she will be there in no less than seventeen minutes."

Sam hung up, and ran out of his office, he ignored Terry's question about what was wrong, and headed straight for his trailer.

"Jason?" He called out, partly expecting the overwhelmed man to come running up to him, wanting to be absolved of such a grave responsibility. He burst though the door to his trailer with a bang, but he received no response. "Sookie? Jason! Where the fuck are you!"

Sam started sniffing the air trying to identify Jason's location. He headed towards the bedroom at the back of his trailer, noting that the water was running in the bathroom. Jason left the faucet on when he…the cold compress he had been instructed to make for Sookie was lying on the floor.

Sam didn't want to admit it, but he knew no one was here. He could hear no heartbeats or movement of any kind. He couldn't smell any live people around in his trailer. Jason was gone and if Jason was gone that only meant one of two things. One, Sookie was lying dead in his bedroom and Jason had freaked out and ran away. Or two, Sookie AND Jason were gone and he had no idea what happened to them.

Sam slowly walked out of the bathroom and towards his bedroom, he didn't know if he could handle seeing her so still…. Sookie wasn't there. His bed was empty. Jason was nowhere to be seen. Pulling out his cell phone again he let out the breath he had been holding. He was glad Sookie was gone and not dead as he had feared, but that really only solved one of the things he was worried about. Now he was worried about why she was gone, how she was gone, and where Jason had gone to too.

Sam dialed Eric's cell number, which he knew by heart and was actually programmed in his phone. After he got off the call to Eric, he would make a point of saving Dr. Ludwig's number there too.

Sam walked towards the door to his trailer intent on sniffing around the surrounding area for unnatural or unfamiliar scents. The phone went directly to voicemail. _Typical. _

"You've reached the number you've dialed. I am not here." Sam slammed his fist against the wall of his trailer. Now he was doubly frustrated as he couldn't reach Eric or detect any out of place scents. Though, he might have an easier time detecting scents if he shifted Sam remained homo erectus, as opposable thumbs were needed when holding a phone.

"ERIC! It's Sam. I…I left Jason alone with Sookie while I called you and the Doc. But, but, shit! They're both gone man. Completely gone," Sam circled his trailer but couldn't find a scent out of place. "And thing is Eric, before I left to find the Dr. Ludwig's number Sookie had a really bad fever. I'm, I don't know what to do, I'm gonna shift and try to track them but…"

Sam came around the side to see two strange men standing at the door to his trailer. One was very short and stocky and tan and had dirty blonde hair that was all gelled up into spikes. The other man next to him was very tall in comparison, tall and wiry with long limbs, he had a very pale complexion, ginger hair, and freckles. The blonde seemed to be in his mid to late thirties, but the redhead couldn't have been more than eighteen.

They were also both dressed very strangely. The shorter blonde one had on a UPS uniform, which in and of itself wasn't that strange, what was strange about the uniformed man was that he was barefoot, his belt buckle wasn't buckled, and his shirt was unbuttoned. He looked like someone who was in the middle of undressing or getting dressed for work.

His tall friend was dressed even weirder. The guy was in a…what Sam assumed was a bunny suit, the kind that the Easter bunny wears at malls for little kids to take pictures with, though the kid wasn't wearing the head to the costume, so Sam could have been wrong about which furry animal they guy was supposed to be. Oddest of all, well, besides the guy in the bunny suit, Sam learned as he sniffed the air, both of the men smelt slightly of charred or burnt meat.

Sam lowered the phone a bit away from his mouth, directing his question at the intruders, "…Who the hell are you?"

!

"Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time." –Susan Cheever

!

Eric flew to the back of the Shifter's pitiful establishment only to find one of the oddest sights of his thousand years on this planet. Two unfamiliar vampires seemed to be 'torturing' the shifter for information as to the whereabouts of his beloved Sookie. The scenario wasn't funny in the abstract sense, but in the practical application it was down right hilarious.

The short blonde vampire was wearing that drab brown uniform the UPS are so fond of. In the man's right hand he had a blue vial, filled with some unknown liquid. In the chubby man's other hand was a corkscrew stopper for the vial. It took Eric a second to realize what was strange about the stopper, as the blonde vampire kept jabbing the shifter with it. The stopper had a needle stuck in it. The pointy haired fat blonde vampire was dipping the needle end into the vial and then stabbing the shifter in the arm with it.

The cruel thing was it seemed to force the Shifter to shift uncontrollably. The funny thing was, the shifter was being sat on by a pale ginger haired vampire…wearing a rabbit outfit…that even had a little cottontail.

If he hadn't been so intent on rescuing his bonded from whatever trouble had sniffed her out this week, he very well may have fallen to the ground mid-flight, as he imagined it would very hard to concentrate on flying correctly when one is laughing so hard that they are crying tears of blood. Eric didn't know if this theory was correct because he had never come across a sight mid-flight so laughter inducing.

As he was so intent on finding Sookie as soon as possible he simply hovered over the ground to conceal his presence from the two vampires who were intent on interrogating their prey and thus too busy to notice him.

It didn't seem to occur to them that Merlotte wouldn't be able to answer any questions if he wasn't in human or parrot form. It also didn't seem to occur to the blonde one that as Sam Merlotte was forced to quickly shift from sea otter, to emu, to zebra, to ferret, to dog, that his red haired companion looked like an unskilled rodeo clown riding a rapidly shrinking/growing bucking bronco.

Eric felt that was Pam close by. Looking to the surrounding forest he saw her there, she was having a much harder time containing her laughter. She had both hands clasped over her mouth, her whole body was shaking, and Eric could see the tell tale trails of her bloody red tears. Eric caught her eye and gave her a stern look. He himself was not unmoved by the comical situation before him, but if these two vampires had the power to force a Shifter to shift uncontrollably, there were not to be underestimated. No matter how stupidly they were dressed.

Eric again used the childe/maker bond and an inclination of his head to alert Pam that he was going to enter the fracas and that she was on back-up detail. Eric then let his feet nosily drop to the ground. Only the smirk on his lips indicated his amusement the rest of his face was a stoic mask of control.

"Is there a problem here gentlemen?" Eric asked in a bored tone as the shifter was forced to shift one last time, into the form of a goose, as the blonde recapped his vial and quickly stuck it into his pants pocket.

It was the blonde who spoke first, "I'm sorry mate, is this 'ere _your_ feathery friend?" The blonde had a slight cockney accent and Eric thought he saw at least one tooth missing in the back of his mouth.

Eric noted with little sympathy that the shifter must have been very uncomfortable with a fully grown manpire, about Eric's height sitting on him, though Eric could see that the red head wasn't resting all of his weight on the manimal, just enough to hinder Merlotte's escape.

Eric watched as a child like grin broke out on the red head's face as he gripped the base of Merlotte's long feathered neck tightly with one hand. "I like ducks. They quack. Quack. Quacky quackity quack." Eric couldn't tell if the redhead was trying to imitate a duck's quack or order Merlotte _to _quack. Either way it didn't matter to him, they would be dead soon. And if Eric didn't distract them, so would Merlotte as the redhead's grip was obviously cutting off the shifter's air supply. Eric wasn't too worried, as Pam was inching closer with a tree branch stake in her hand.

The redhead then began to stroke the top of Merlotte's head with one finger in an almost gentle manner. With a confused look on his face, the bunny suit clad vampire asked his fat companion, "Hey Fred, why ain't the ducky quacking? Duck's go quack not moo or cock-a-doodle-doo."

Eric wondered if the ginger haired giant was mentally impaired before or after he got turned as he obviously shared a lot in common with Bubba. "I do believe he is currently in the form of a Canadian goose, not a duck. Also, your squeezing his neck so tightly that your cutting off his air."

The redhead looked down at his own hands as if he was surprised to see them attached to his body. Eric noted the look of exasperation on 'Fred', as the redhead began lightly stroking the Shifter's long neck from head to base using only the tips of his fingers. "I'm so sorry Mr. Goose. Some times I forget to tell my hands what to do and they just go on and do what they want. Also, I didn't know you was one of those honking ducks and not the quacking type." The redhead whispered to Merlotte's head trying to soothe him.

"If I could redirect the conversation to your earlier inquiry as to the ownership of said goose. I am his master. And he does belong to me." Eric considered this statement only a tiny falsehood. "I am the Sheriff of area 5. This is area 5. Can you tell me why it is that you have not met with me before entering my territory and attacking those under my guardianship? I demand you tell me your names and what business you have here."

"Hey there Sheriff, I'm Randy and this here's Freddy, but he gets mad when you call him that so's I call him Fred, but some people call 'im Fredrick but that's only when we's around fancy royal people and the like. And my names Randel when we's around them important folk but you seem real nice so you can call me Randy if you want. " Apparently Randy wasn't so good at distinguishing tone or body language. The boob had actually waved 'hi' when he was introducing himself.

Eric was beginning to dislike 'Randy' very much, though a simpleton was much easier to deal with when trying to extract information. Fred must have felt the same way because he slapped the back of Randy's head and mimed a zipper being closed over his mouth then he twisted his hand and threw some imaginary object over his shoulder. This seemed to be some kind of silent cue to Randy because; Randy then enthusiastically nodded his head and repeated Fred's actions.

"My apologies Sheriff. Randy can rabbit a bit when 'e's excited. But 'e's a good mate, even if he is a bit scrambled in the brainpan. 'Course its not like he's barking m-"

"Fred, she's on the move again." Randy said in a voice that was devoid of his earlier childlike glee or guile. Eric then attacked Randy as Pam spurred on by his actions, tackled Fred.

Using all of his speed and body weight Eric knocked the mentally handicapped vampire off of the shifter and onto the floor. He quickly overpowered him, pinning him to the ground. Barring his fangs he squeezed Randy's wrists until he heard the bone crack. "Who is **she**? Is she Sookie Stackhouse? IF YOU'VE DONE SOMETHING TO-"

"ERIC!" Eric was consumed with rage as he saw Fred standing over his childe with a cruel smile on his face and an empty red vial in his hand. Pamela was writhing on the floor; the flesh of her face and temple was burning as if touched by silver.

Faster than a human eye could follow Eric dragged Randy up as he stood. Eric had his hands around Randy's neck, twisting Randy's head as far as it could to the right without breaking any bones.

"What did you do to her?" Fred slipped the empty red vial into his pants pocket.

"Why don't you just release my mate so we can be on our way Northman. We wouldn't want anything else unfortunate to happen to young Pamela would we?" Randy then held out his other hand, the one with the tree branch stake he had apparently stolen in the fight. Eric growled in frustration.

"Fix her or I'll rip his head off." Eric jerked Randy's head so he broke at least his collarbone. Randy in response whimpered, but thankfully kept his mouth shut while the grown up's talked.

"'Fraid I can't do that mate. You are in a right old two and eight. Your girl here is gonna need the blood of 'er maker to heal from the dose I gave 'er. Course, your blood ain't worth spit if I stake her now. So how's about we make nice and switch hostages all civil like. I move over there you come over 'ere. " Eric could see and feel that Pam had been grievously injured, not unlike Bill Compton was during the Fae war, but he also didn't know if he could trust Fred to be telling the truth. And if Fred was lying and he gave up Randy his only leverage, he could be left with a dying childe, no leads on Sookie, and a Shifter who seemed to be having trouble changing back into a human as he was now a brown squirrel. _Useless mammal._

"Where is Sookie Stackhouse?" Eric asked as he twisted Randy's head breaking a few more bones in the process.

"I 'onestly couldn't tell ya even if I wanted ta mate. Like me chum said, she's on the move." Fred, _almost_ as quickly as Eric, reached down to pick up Pam's agony filled thrashing corpse. He mimicked Eric's pose, using Pam as a vampire shield.

Eric imagined it must have looked very dramatic, Fred and himself facing off in front of Sam Merlotte's deplorable little tin can. Each with a vampire hostage, and in the middle between them, the twitching shifter who was now morphing from squirrel into what Eric believed was a Patas Monkey, indigenous of Africa if he wasn't mistaken. Eric was glad but also surprised that none of the patron's of Merlotte's establishment had come to investigate what he assumed was a long absence by their boss and odd sounds such as the screeching of a Patas Monkey as it leaped at the face of a stocky blonde vampire wearing a disheveled UPS uniform.

Eric used the shifter's distraction as an opportunity to get Pamela out of the man's gnarled clutches. Eric quickly made the decision to bite his wrist and feed her his blood. He could see her brain matter, she needed to be healed before he could leave her in pursuit of his Lover's trail. Besides, at least he _knew_ she was alive now. Though, the disconnect and silence of their bond still troubled him so.

From his position cradling Pamela's head to his wrist Eric could only look on in fury as Fred threw the shifter monkey into the side of his shitty trailer, and then ran to his companion.

"Look's like the game's afoot, eh Sheriff?" And just like that Fred, with his arm securely around Randy's waist, launched himself and his companion into the sky and then flew away. Eric narrowed his eyes at the departing duo, he really hated not getting the last word.

Eric looked down and petted his childe's hair as she continued to drink from his wrist. Eric heard the Shifter make his way over to him. Looking down Eric couldn't help but let out a booming 'HA!' the Shifter had now taken the form of a fluffy white rabbit.

"Yes Shifter, I do indeed wonder why Randy was wearing that stupid bunny suit. Astute observation." Merlotte did nothing to indicate he understood what Eric has said, the rabbit just twitched its nose and sat quietly beside him.

"Shif—Sam Merlotte, can you understand what I'm saying?" He slowed down his speech and raised his voice as he spoke, as if that would help. The rabbit at his side suddenly shifted into a red fox. The fox nodded its head up and down, silently telling Eric that yes, Sam could understand him.

"Can you change back into a human being?" Eric was disheartened as the fox nodded it's head 'no'. Eric did not know what kind of magic those two employed on the shifter to take away his ability to shift into a human being, but it meant he would have to extract knowledge about Sookie's disappearance on a yes and no basis with the shifter. That was rather annoying.

"Can you control what animal you change into?" The little fox shook its head up and down and side to side.

"I'll take that as a maybe / I don't know." Eric sighed and absentmindedly patted the Shifter's fox head. Eric rather liked animals. They reminded him of world devoid of all this modern technology. When the world was just filled with men and beasts and nature.

"I have never heard of any witch or spell or curse or ability that can render a Shifter unable to shift into its original form." The fox laid its head down on Eric's thigh; to Eric the little fox seemed depressed. It was hard to remember that this fox was actually Sookie's asinine boss with whom he had been forced to associate with against his will, for Sookie's sake.

"Have hope Sam Merlotte, I still need you to assist me in finding Sookie. I give you my word if I can cure you, while looking for her I will do so, if not I will endeavor to cure you after we have gotten Sookie back, as she will mostly likely insist upon it. And if you cannot be cured, fear not, I suppose I will allow Sookie to keep you as her pet for as long as she can stand you." The fox bit his hand in response. _Ungrateful rodent._

"Perhaps Ludwig will have heard of such a case." As if Eric summoned her by speaking her name, Dr. Ludwig popped in right in front of the odd trio.

The short be-speckled woman took in the sight with a bemused expression before asking, "So where's my patient, vampire?"

"Pamela was attacked by a vampire with a red vial of liquid. She is reacting as if assaulted with silver. The attacker said she needed my blood to cure her, but I cannot verify if that information is true or not. But I decided to err on the side of caution. I would like you to examine her." Eric heard a loud 'hee haw'. Eric turned to see the Shifter had morphed from fox to a light grey African Wild Ass; the Shifter nudged his shoulder with his mussel, as if to say 'don't forget about me you ass'.

"Also, there seems to be something wrong with my pet shifter." Sam put his mouth right up to Eric's ear and brayed loudly. Eric smiled charmingly at the Doctor.

"I'll understand if you can't help him, as you are a trained physician, not a veterinarian." Dr. Ludwig let out a slight chuckle, leading Eric to believe that after all the time's she'd assisted him and those in his retinue, she was finally beginning to warm up to him.

"I can take a look at your Shifter friend after I deal with your progeny, is he the one who called my office telling me I had to come here to assist your bonded?" Eric looked at the Ass for confirmation. Merlotte nodded in confirmation.

"I suppose he is."

Dr. Ludwig tisked as she opened her bag and settled down next to Pam. "Then I'll have to take a look at his head once I get to him."

"Why is that?" Though Eric had thought the Shifter was brain damaged all the years to have been so close to Sookie and do nothing about his infatuation with her, he was curious what had made Dr. Ludwig come to the same conclusion.

Dr. Ludwig looked at him like he was crazy. "Because vampire, as you well know, I was just with the girl, curing her brother of blindness. I'll expect my payment at the end of the week, and just so you know, I'm adding on an extra charge for travel and aggravation expenses."

…..!…!…..

To Be Continued…Soon-ish!

**A/N: REVIEW ME PLEASE! **

**After such a long break I made this one extra funny and long to make up for my computer malfunction induced absence. It should be noticed that I tried to fill this with a lot of my favorite characters, i.e. ERIC PAM & SAM, Sookie's up in my favorite box too but, well, she's not in this scene. **

**By the way the title for every chapter will mostly likely come from the quote in every chapter. Did anyone get that the quote was about death being ordinary and because this was such an extraordinary day that I DID NOT kill anyone. **

**Question to answer in the review, who would you want me to kill Fred or Randy, if you had to choose…**

**Please review. **

**Theories, likes, dislikes, questions, comments, encouragement, critique and declarations of undying devotion are all welcome so please don't be shy.**

**Translation of Fred's Cockney Phrases found at ****.****. **

**To Talk** = rabbit

**Crazy **= barking (mad)

**State, Problems= **two and eight

_Also here's the picture of the Patas monkey. I picked it because of no particular reason. Just cause. _

.org/gallery/species/mammal/patas_

Here's the wild ass.

.org/gallery/species/mammal/african_

**REPEAT: I **have no beta, all mistakes are mine, but some grammar mistakes are intentional.


	4. Swine

**EXTRA LONG AND JUICE CHAPTER AHEAD. THINGS ARE PICKING UP AND ANSWERS ARE GETTING ANSWERED NO MORE TEASING!**

**A/N: **So apparently thinking I can update at least every 3 days or earlier, is just me being completely delusional, let's shoot for once a week shall we? BTW if anyone cares my computer burnt out one of these memory things so, its now super slow but does turn on.

Also, know that I do have a plan so I am dropping clues, but not many. There is a bigger picture. I have a vision. Just reassuring you cause sometimes I'm reading fic and I severely doubt the writer knows where to take it next.

So enjoy and please review.

A/N: **Again thoughts are in **_italics. _

ALSO THANK YOU TO everyone who put this story on Alert and who Favorite'd it and Favorite'd me. I really appreciate it!

…..!…!…..

Chapter 4: Swine

Sam was very relieved when Dr. Ludwig arrived. He was getting tired of his one sided conversation with Northman. Sam shut his eyes and tried to shift into his human form once again. Even if he couldn't say it, Sam was very, very, very worried. He had never been stuck in animal mode before. Even during the full moons when he was forced to shit, if he really tried he could shift back into his human form. He resolved to try again.

Eric was talking about Pam's injuries. Sam was annoyed with Eric. He wasn't mentioning Sam's predicament to the doctor. _What about me!_

And just like that Sam pictured the animal in his mind and he could feel his limbs, his skeleton, his organs, and his brain morphing into that of a light grey African Wild Ass. Sam nudged Eric's shoulder with his mouth. _Tell her about me you giant ass!_

"Also, there seems to be something wrong with my pet shifter." Eric said nonchalantly. As if Sam were an afterthought, which he probably was to the vampire, but either way Sam didn't think he deserved such a blasé attitude from Eric. So, Sam put his mouth right up to Eric's ear and brayed loudly. _Take that you ass!_

Sam was suddenly aware that he was not all together in control of his actions and thoughts. Usually when Sam shifted he relied heavily on his animal instincts to guide him, but he retained his logical human mind. Now, under this spell or curse, this was not the case. He still felt like Sam. He was thinking like himself, but maybe a less civilized feral version.

"I can take a look at your Shifter friend after I deal with your progeny, is he the one who called my office telling me I had to come here to assist your bonded?" Eric looked at him, but Sam really hadn't heard the question so he just nodded. He knew they were talking about him but he could help but want to leave in search of some nice grass or yummy bark.

"…Because vampire, as you well know, I was just with the girl, curing her brother of blindness. I'll expect my payment at the end of the week, and just so you know, I'm adding on an extra charge for travel and aggravation expenses." Sam's head snapped in the Doc's direction at the words 'girl' and 'brother', because he knew who she was talking about. At least he thought he did. She had to be talking about—_SOOKIE! _

Without meaning too, Sam shifted into his usual form of a Collie dog. They were talking about Sookie. _And to a lesser extent Jason._ And was having a hard time containing his excitement. "Bark, bark!"

"Shut up." Pam said in sharp tone that Sam felt compelled to obey.

Sam watched as Pam quickly stood up and placed herself at Dr. Ludwig's back, as Eric simultaneously grabbed Dr. Ludwig's shirt pulling her forwards until she was almost nose-to-nose with him, her tiny feet swaying as Northman had lifted her off the ground to achieve their eye level status.

Sam was suddenly aware that he had to pee. "Bark! Bark! Ruff!" The vampires neither spared him a glance nor seemed to understand the need he was trying to convey with his barks.

"You saw Sookie?" Eric's voice was shaky and very quiet.

Dr. Ludwig didn't answer Eric; she just tried to pry herself out of the Viking's grasp, to no avail. "Unhand me you uncultured swine!"

Eric shook her once, using enough force to make the old woman's coarse golden brown hair to come out of its loose bun at the top of her head. Then he spoke to Dr. Ludwig in a low, eerily calm voice, after just staring her down for a minute. "Answer my questions. Do not balk at my questioning technique. Or I swear on every star in the night sky, I will extract the information I seek in a very, very painful way."

"It'll probably get very messy, we should do it at Fangtasia so I can change clothes, I wouldn't want to ruin this outfit." Pam chimed in as Dr. Ludwig stopped struggling; finally catching on to how close to violence the pair of vampires seemed to be.

"Now, do I have your full attention?" Dr. Ludwig practically spit out the word 'yes'.

"Good." Eric smiled before letting his face once again resume a mask devoid of emotions. "Where is Sookie now?"

Dr. Ludwig huffed, "I don't know where the girl is now. I left her at my home office in Blanchard to come here. To tend to you and your spawn."

"Bark!" Sam added not wanting to be forgotten in the list of patients. He was very worried now, not only about Sookie, but about himself. Sam watched as Eric tightened his grip on the old woman, who wasn't more than three feet tall if that. It seemed silly to Sam that Eric should intimate the Doc this way, as all he would really have to do is stand up and loom over her in all his Viking height to really make her feel like a bug endangered of being squashed. If Eric angered the doc too greatly she might not help him. Then what would Sam do…

"Was anyone with her besides her brother?"

"No one that I saw. Could you a t least let me stand on my own two feet if you're going to interrogate me? This is just, just—rude!" Eric made no move to let the little woman down.

"Eric, perhaps we should not make this more unpleasant than we have too…" Pam suggested signaling to Sam with her eyes. Sam looked up at Eric who was now looking down at him.

"Yes. We wouldn't want you to be too sore, to work on the shifter after our little chat." Eric let Dr. Ludwig down and as soon as he did she had one finger pointing at Eric's nose.

"Little chat my aunt fanny! I hope you know this kind of treatment's going to cost you at least $3000 in emotional distress expenses." Eric gently moved the hobbit woman's finger out of his face and patted the back of her hand in a comforting gesture.

"Dr. Ludwig, I will of course pay any additional charges you deem necessary for the Shifters treatment, and my regrettable mistreatment of your person. Now if you could just tell me what type of treatment Sookie's brother came in seek of…" Eric shot the Doc a charming smile, but Sam could tell she wasn't fooled. Eric ignored Sam as he pawed at the Viking's legs trying to catch his attention. Pam had quickly disappeared.

"He was blinded by some very powerful magic." Pam returned with his beat up old desk chair from inside Merlotte's.

"Standing behind a bar seems by far the better choice if the alternative is sitting in this piece of crap, but still I thought you might not feel that way…" Pam let her words hang in the air as she gestured to the doctor to take a seat. Which she did.

"Bark!" Sam chuckled to himself as Dr. Ludwig's legs hung off the edge of his chair because she was so short.

"Enough distractions!" Eric shouted, causing Pam and himself to look down submissively. "Was Sookie also blinded by this 'powerful magic'?"

"No. Her vision is as good as yours."

Sam quirked his head to the side and listened intently as Pam voiced the question he was thinking but was unable to verbalize. "Who would want to blind Jason Stackhouse? Or were they trying to blind Sookie and got Jason instead?"

Dr. Ludwig sighed as if we were all too stupid for her to be wasting her time with. "I said that the boy was blinded by powerful magic, I didn't say _someone_ blinded him using powerful magic. What he suffered was just a side affect of a spell or something; I'm not sure what, being preformed in his general vicinity. His actions or inactions had no bearing on his affliction. Only his location mattered. He was very close to an absorbent amount of power."

Eric was agitated; Sam could tell by the way he was grinding his teeth. Pam quickly left again, but this time she did not use her vampire speed, merely ran at a human pace around the parking lot and his trailer. "Move on from her brother, what about _Sookie_. Was she injured in any way? I believe the shifter said he left Jason in charge of her care for a few minutes. Was she injured by this magical side affect as well?"

"No vampire, your girl was fine. Picture of health for a creature such as she."

Pam returned from scouting the surrounding area, or at least that's what Sam assumed she had bee—_was that a squirrel over there in that tree?_

"Did Jason need to be watched as he healed? Or would Sookie merely want to drop him off at his hovel and then go home herself?"

"I concocted an old herbal remedy for the eyes that she must soak in a compress and keep over his eyes for the next 72 hours if the boy wishes to regain his sight. If she had brought him to me any later after the fact, recovery would be impossible. That boy needs total darkness and lots of sleep if he is to recuperate properly. I gave her a sleep mask and told her to make him wear it until the 72 hours is up. I also have her some sedatives so the young man could be assured get the rest he needs."

"Did you give her enough of the remedy or would she need to brew more on her own?"

"Of course I gave her enough. Besides, with what's in it, she'd never get the measurements just right."

Sam got the feeling that somebody was watching him, and he didn't think it was the squirrel. "Yip!"

Pam had picked him up by the scruff of his neck. "You know Shifter, I think I quite prefer you like this. Perhaps we shall have the Doctor leave you like this, who knows maybe you'll turn into a mink and I can add you to my collection."  
"PAMELA!" Pam rolled her eyes at Eric's shout.

"Oh come on Eric, it sound's like Sookie's fine. She's probably on her way home with her more handicapped than usual brother as we speak." Pam dropped Sam to the ground roughly. Sam wasn't proud of himself, but he ran around and hid behind Eric's legs. He did not want to play the part of the Dalmatian to Pam's Cruella de Vil. He knew that bloodsucking fiend wore fur. The b_itch. _

"**Pam!** If everything is fine why is my blood bond with her disrupted? Why is did she collapse in Merlotte's in the first place? Who were those two goons that disabled you and the shifter? And most importantly how did Sookie and Jason get from Merlotte's shitty trailer in Bon Temp, to Dr. Ludwig's office in Blanchard in under ten minutes or so? I know one way she could have gotten there, teleportation, do you know any creatures who can teleport, who may be inclined to abduct my—Sookie!" There was no doubt in Sam's mind that Eric was the alpha in this situation. Eric glanced at Pam, seeing down trodden face Sam couldn't help but bark at her, hopefully conveying his allegiance to Eric.

"I did not mean to be flippant about the well being of your blood bonded Master, but we do know that her cousin Claude has chosen to remain in this realm. In a time of crisis it is conceivable that she called him for assistance, seeing as how in the daylight you are not available and are too far away in Shreveport to help." Eric let Pam's words sink in before he turned away from her and back to Dr. Ludwig.

The next question Eric did not ask so forcefully. Once again Eric's voice was unusually quiet, Sam suspected this was due to his fear and worry about Sookie. Sam found it odd that the Viking was having a hard time hiding it. "Did she mention anything about our blood bond being disconnected or broken?"

"She mentioned nothing relating to you or anyone other than her brother. She came to me seeking treatment for him, that is all we spoke of."

Eric looked away, off into the forest that lay beyond his trailer. The forest reminded Sam that he needed to find a tree to pee on. "Do you know of anything that could cause a blood bond such as ours to-"

"I'm not an expert on the inner working of the magic that occurs between blood-bonded vampires. I have no idea why your vampire blood bond isn't working. All I can tell you is that for the half an hour she was in my company she did not seem scared, injured, or under any type of compulsion."

Sam quirked his ear as he detected a strange vibration coming form Eric's pants. Eric reached in and pulled out his cell phone. His face remained stoic, but Sam could sense the change in his mood.

"Sookie, where are you?" Eric asked, doing very well in Sam's opinion, at keeping his voice from sounding frantic.

"Yip, yip, yip! Bark!" Sam was now jumping back and forth in front of Eric. He was so excited, his tail was wagging and he couldn't help but barking in joy, because Eric was going to get Sookie back.

"What do you—Why are you at—Why in per-fine. You can explain in person at Fangtasia. I will be there within the next ten minutes, do not leave." At this point Sam could no longer contain himself any longer. He was just bursting with happiness that Sookie was okay. Sam lifted his leg and let out a golden stream of urine. It was quite a relief…until he heard it splashing off of Eric's shoes.

"Your pet shifter seems to have urinated on your Italian leather shoes Eric. " Pam commented with a sneer. "Perhaps now you won't be so snippy about making him my new fur?"

Eric looked down at him and Sam felt deeply shamed for his lack of bladder control. He should have gone to a tree or a bush, but he hadn't wanted to miss anything that Sookie to Eric over the phone. Sam was now very afraid of what the vampire would do to him. He hadn't meant to. But he couldn't help himself.

Sam let out one whimper before he started shifting into a turtle. Then he just pulled his head into his shell and hoped that the big Viking wouldn't squish him.

!

We are all kept and fed for death, like a herd of swine to be slain without reason.

-Palladas

!

"Sookie is at Fangtasia awaiting our arrival. She did not mention her brother. Dr. Ludwig if you would be so kind as take the Shifter with you as you try to cure him of his involuntary shifting affliction, I would be most grateful. And by grateful, I mean I'll pay you triple." Eric tried very hard not to crush the small turtle's shell as he bent down to pick it up. He wasn't worried about hurting Merlotte for Merlotte's sake, but for his beloved's. His beloved Sookie, who cared for this man-turtle, who just pissed on his five hundred dollar shoes.

To Eric's surprise, Dr. Ludwig just chuckled took the turtle out of his hands and popped out. No fuss, no parting words, no threats of additional expenses if the animal urinated on her too. It was odd, her quick exit, but also quite pleasant.

"She is at Fangtasia? I suppose it is closer to than her home, perhaps she expects you to help her play nursemaid to her ailing brother?" Pam said with a wicked smile on her face. Eric held his arms open to his progeny. Inviting her into his embrace so he may fly them both to Fangtasia.

"If anyone's wiping leaking bodily fluids from Jason Stackhouse it shall be you my dear Pamela." Pamela's deep frown put a large smile on Eric's face. And then Eric took to the air. Flying as fast as he could towards Fangtasia.

!

All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death than animals that know nothing. –Maurice Maeterlinck

!

When Pam and Eric arrived at Fangtasia, Pam had gotten herself worked up into fit. She knew Eric could feel it, but he was too wrapped up in assuring himself that Sookie was all right. Not that she wasn't worried about her little telepathic friend as well, she was, but that didn't mean she wanted to play nursemaid to a human. Which is exactly what would happen the second Eric found Sookie and whisked her away so they could 'chat' in private.

Pam followed Eric in through the back door of Fangtasia. The music with it's incessant bass, was already grating on her nerves. And she knew it was wrong of her, but she sort of hated Sookie for having this little episode on her day off. This was her one day away from the vermin. At least it was supposed to be.

Eric checked his office first, but found the wrong Stackhouse.

"Isn't that sweet. All tuckered out from his big day of being a useless redneck." Pam smiled evilly, taking in the delicious picture the male sleeping Stackhouse presented.

Jason was fast asleep on Eric's couch, a couch chosen specifically by her at Eric's behest to benefit Sookie should she need to nap on one of her many visits to Fangtasia. Pamela chuckled as she committed the less than adorable picture Jason Stackhouse presented as he snored loudly, dead to the world.

The Were-panther formally known as human had one hand down his pants, most likely scratching at his balls, a constant irritation for human males, or so Pam had heard. His other found his thumb in his mouth, which was odd because it was also open and snoring and just plain unsanitary in her opinion. Jason was also using a black Armani blazer as a blanket, a blazer that Pam knew for a fact cost more than Jason's entire wardrobe put together, a blazer that was currently getting drooled on, heavily drooled on. And the cherry that made this image really pop, was the fact that Jason was on his side, pants down so low that his ass crack was just hanging out there, _not that it was an unwelcome site per say…_

"I thought she would be here." Pam rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the fact that Eric was truly saddened and hurt for some reason, she tried to ignore it because she couldn't understand it. But unlike the idiot vermin, when she didn't understand something she did not lash out…well, not much anyway.

"She's probably waiting at the bar or in your usual booth." She knew something was deeply troubling Eric and Pam couldn't help but want to fix it. And to fix Eric's troubles, she usually had to have a little talk with Sookie.

"No—That's not-. I can't feel her Pamela. It's as if we have no blood bond at all. As if it never existed." Pam frowned. That was not good.

Pam was just about to offer some empty words of solace, when Eric turned from his office and headed towards the bar area. Pam shut the door and sped up to join him, but had to stop short at the entrance to the bar to avoid hitting Eric who had stopped unexpectedly.

Through their bond she felt many emotions. Shock. Confusion. Anger. Fear. Love…Pam walked around him to get a view of his face. Her maker was standing slack jawed, with his eyes bugged out. Pam believed the expression is 'gob smacked'. Turning Pam followed his eye line to see what had struck her maker mute and immobile.

"I'll be damned." She mumbled as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped just a tad before she remembered how stupid Eric looked right now and she firmly shut her mouth.

Dead center, wearing that cute little uniform of hers was Sookie Stackhouse, lounging on _Eric's _throne. One leg thrown over the side of the chair, the other innocently twirling her hair, which was done up in some very fake innocent looking pigtails. Her other hand was holding her phone to her ear.

"You were right Eric, something _is_ wrong." Her words seem to jar her Master back into the land of the living because suddenly he was moving towards his lady love, drawn to her like a mosquito to a bug zapper.

It seemed to Pam that he was using human speed to make the moment more dramatic, _the big drama queen._ But in any case, Pam followed him, as she always did.

"…if you find him or her, call me before you do anything stupid." Pam only caught the tail end of Sookie's conversation before she hung up the phone. _I wonder who she was talking too, it's not like the girls got a lot of friends._

Sookie gave strained closed mouth smile before turning to Eric. Pam watched in fascination as Sookie's smile melted into a look of pure adoration. And then suddenly, faster than the eye could see, Sookie was up and her arms were wrapped around Eric's shoulders and their mouths were fused together. And they were kissing. And Eric's hand's were clutching her back and cupping her ass. And Sookie's hands were buried in Eric's hair. And the girl was moaning. And so was her maker. They were like a couple of horny teenagers, it was two parts annoying and one part adorable as far as Pam was concerned.

Pam wondered what it would be like to have Sookie kiss _her _with that much passion and abandon. That much bottled lust and undeniable sexual tension. To kiss her mouth for hours without ever coming-And just like that Pam figured it out. What was off about Sookie…well one of things that were off about her anyways.

Pam watched Eric and Sookie continue to kiss, she listened intently only to find that her suspicions were confirmed. Sookie wasn't breathing. Her heart wasn't beating. She was for all intents and purposes, physically dead.

Pam watched with what would have been bated breath had she had a working set of lungs, as Sookie pulled back from Eric to give him a dazzling toothy smile…complete with fangs.

"Hello lover." Sookie said in her darling southern drawl and before Eric could voice any response he may have had Sookie was on him again. Attacking Eric's mouth. Devouring his tongue. Assaulting him with kisses. Rendering him and Pam speechless.

!

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. –Mark Twain

!

"_OMG! It freaking worked!" A familiar peppy voice greeted Sookie as she came back to reality. She once again felt connected with her body. She was no longer in pain. The inferno that had been silently broiling her to death had disappeared and been replaced with a gentle breeze. This was good news if not a bit unexpected._

_No longer was she paralyzed, she learned as she wiggled her left foot and twitched her nose. And no longer was she mute, "What work?" _

_It took Sookie more effort than it should have to force out those two short words, but she managed to do it. She heard a loud gasp in response to her whispered question. In fact she was fairly certain that she heard more than one gasp, although she could just be hearing things after inexplicably nearly dying. _

"_Holy crap! She's HUMAN…." Said the familiar voice as Sookie heard and felt someone sniff her hair. "Well, human-ish." _

_And that's when Sookie learned she was no longer blind as she opened her eyes and was greeted by a familiar face smiling down at her. _

"_Hi Sookie!"_

Once Sookie regained the ability to sit up, she did so and was greeted by a major head rush. Once she had all her mental faculties back under control and firing on all cylinders she just sat there trying to comprehend what the fuck she was looking at. There were three women in the room with her and she only recognized one for certain.

Pam was smiling down at her. Fangs down as she inhaled deeply. _Just like the old days. _Her face looking as beautiful and young as the day she was turned. "My dear you smell divine."

There was an unknown strangely familiar elderly woman standing at her feet holding a very old, dusty looking book. "Oh no. Oh god no it's the Bob-Cat debacle all over again!" _Oh crap, oh shit. Oh Jesus. I'm fucked I'm in so much trouble. OH CRAP, OH SHIT!_

And to her right there was an almost completely unfamiliar girl of maybe seventeen years old, who had long strawberry blonde hair that went down to her waist, big green eyes, a smooth pale complexion and full lips. "Whatcha talkin' bout Endora? Seems like the spell worked to me." _Looks fine to me. Better than fine. I wonder what her blood tastes like now that she's human…._ Sookie scooted away from the girl just a tad.

"That's because you're a nitwit who couldn't comprehend complexity of what we were attempting to achieve in the first place." The old woman was flipping furiously through the book in her hands; she looked extremely frustrated and was apparently a witch who did a spell on her. Perhaps the spell was also causing her telepathy to go a little haywire because she was pretty sure she could hear what Pam and the young vampire girl were thinking.

Sookie turned to Pam, her only recognizable ally. "Pam what's going on? Did ya'll do a spell on me? Cause it feels like ya did. Didn't you learn anything from the Amnesia Eric episode?"

_Eric…_Pam flinched and then forced her self to smile, well smirked. "Yes human Sookie, we did a spell on you, but as you are obviously not you, as your are schooling _me_ in the ways of abusing magic, I'm afraid our spell did not work the way it was supposed to."  
"Do they ever?" _Not really. _Sookie cocked an eyebrow as she looked around the room she was in. It was her house. More specifically, her attic. Her dusty, cobweb covered, box littered, cramped attic. The musty air was almost as irritating as Pam's sphinx like dialect.

"Tell me human Sookie, what do you think the date is?" Sookie wanted to believe that Pam was playing a very mean trick on her, but…she just couldn't see Pam taking things this far.

"Well, _Vampire _Pam. Today's April 3, 2010…as far as I know. Why?" Pam patted her shoulder in a 'there there' gesture, which only pissed Sookie off more.

"Holy space time continuum Batman! I told you it worked!" The young girl shouted as she bounced up and down from her kneeling position next to Sookie. She then looked at the old woman and sticking her tongue out trying to prove her superiority in a very immature way. _Na, na na na naaaa!_

"It didn't work, as you both so obviously pointed out. SHE'S HUMAN! AND-"

"Technically she is human and 1/8th fairy. But, go on." Pam interrupted.

"OKAY she's HUMAN and 1/8th FAIRY and she's here! In the, well _her_ future! We were supposed to do a time _travel_ spell, not a body swap across space and time!"

The elderly woman was now pacing back and forth in front of her. "Oh god! I KNEW that substituting ingredients was a bad idea. I knew it. I told her. I warned her something could go wrong. But Sookie was all 'no, I believe in you' and 'you can do it, you're the most powerful witch on earth'. HOW could I be so stupid as to believe her?" The elder woman abruptly dropped the book on the floor.

"I need a drink." _Or twelve…I am seriously getting too old for this shit. _Sookie watched as the no-name biddy carefully climbed the old rickety ladder that lead downstairs.

"Don't worry Sookie when Amelia calms down she'll come back and we can work on fixing whatever it is that got screwed up when we did the spell to send you back." _Or maybe the disgruntled bitch will fall down the stairs and I can finally drain her dry now that Sookie's out of commission as far as scolding is concerned. Now I just have to find a way to get away from Pam for a little while…_

Sookie couldn't think of anything. Her brain hurt from too much thinking hers and theirs. "What? Wait. AMELIA? What. WHAT?"

"Pam?" She could feel the tears swelling behind her eyes. Sookie turned to Pam hoping she could just make sense of what was happening. _Here come water works, I swear humans are so predictable. They leak at the drop of a hat! _And suddenly the no-name teen was hugging her and petting her hair.

"Don't worry Master, we won't let anything bad happen to you while your visiting." _VISITING? God why did Sookie bring this idiot child into my life, I lived through age of disco, wasn't that punishment enough?_

"Get the hell off me," Sookie shouted pushing the girl away. Sookie could feel big fat tears rolling down her cheeks, she quickly wiped them away, but honestly Pam could shove it, she was very upset and overwhelmed, she was a big girl and she'd leak if she wanted to. "I don't even know you!"

"Not yet." Pam smirked as the girl's green eyes filled up with bloody tears, obviously upset at Sookie's hostile rejection. "But you will Sookie. When you grow up to be a big bad vampire like me, you turn this girl, although I don't know why. She's a complete idiot."

"Am not!"

"You see what I mean?" Sookie felt like fainting. If she could have willed herself to faint she would have.

"Wait, so…if I'm in the future. And Amelia's still alive…what year is it here?" Sookie turned to Pam, truly not wanting to hear the answer, but needing to all the same.

"2057. You are precisely forty seven years in the future."

"Isn't that awesome?" _Idiot._

…..!…!…..

To Be Continued…Soon-ish!

**A/N: REVIEW ME PLEASE! Seriously guys I poured my self into this chapter, so if you don't review I will consider myself a failure and never post again…so:**

**Please review. **

**Theories, likes, dislikes, questions, comments, encouragement, critique and declarations of undying devotion are all welcome so please don't be shy.**

**REPEAT: I **have no beta, all mistakes are mine, but some grammar mistakes are intentional.

All quotes found at thinkquoteexist. Com

Here they are: 

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. –Mark Twain

All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death than animals that know nothing. –Maurice Maeterlinck

We are all kept and fed for death, like a herd of swine to be slain without reason. -Palladas


	5. Explanations

**A/N: Hello all! Guess what! You know how I mentioned my computer kept crashing? Well, it died. And with it went my fantastic finished story FUTURE DEATH TOLL, which I had finished. I just recently had a certain awesome someone scavenge the carcass of my dead computer for pieces and I got some of my notes back so I've decided to re-write the series. Which is very annnnnnnnnnnnnnoying, especially cause I'm probably not gonna remember all the awesome jokes I wrote be4. **

**In re-writing the whole thing I've decided to re-edit chapter 5 So I've replaced it and added to it so you should reread this if your going to continue on with my story. Also in all honesty untangling my time travel web of headaches is hard and I think I contradicted myself a bit in chapter 5 in regards to stuff later on. **

**Anyhow, I'm gonna begin updating this thing again, so enjoy!**

A/N: **Again thoughts are in **_italics. _

ALSO THANK YOU TO everyone who put this story on Alert and who Favorite'd it and Favorite'd me. It's the only reason why I'd try to write this thing over again. So please continue to review.

…..!…!…..

_Recap: Pam watched with what would have been bated breath had she had a working set of lungs, as Sookie pulled back from Eric to give him a dazzling toothy smile…complete with fangs._

"_Hello lover." Sookie said in her darling southern drawl and before Eric could voice any response he may have had Sookie was on him again. Attacking Eric's mouth. Devouring his tongue. Assaulting him with kisses. Rendering him and Pam speechless._

Chapter 5: Explanations

!

_I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, said Alice, because I'm not myself you see._

_-Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll_

!

Eric was in a word, confused.

His beautiful Sookie whom he had been worried about all night, was right in front of him, completely unharmed, perfectly in tact…well, almost in tact, she was missing a heart beat. She was a vampire. Prior to this evening, he had not seen Sookie for a week. Eric supposed it was possible for her to be turned in that time, but it would be highly unlikely, as he had felt her constantly through their bond, until recently. He felt confident that if she had been turned, he would have felt it. And he hadn't. And yet there she stood, fangs out and heartbeat-less.

And while Eric was devastated that his Sookie was (un)dead, he was equally as elated that she was not finally dead. He was filled with rage at the thought that someone had drained and turned his beloved, yet, grateful that he would now no longer have to watch her decay into old age.

"You look speechless lover, I thought you'd be happy to see me." Sookie said as she finally released his lips and looked down and then up at him through her lashes.

"I…."

"I think we ought to move this shindig away from prying ears," Sookie ran her hands from his shoulders down to his hands, lightly swinging them. "Why don't you go ahead and lead the way Pam, we'll be right behind ya."

Pam led them away from the stage and Eric barely noticed all the rooms occupants staring as the trio left. Sookie was by his side and had linked their arms as if they were about to skip though a field of daisies. She was very…happy, but underneath that façade Eric could see that inside Sookie was panicked or at the very least deeply disturbed by something.

Pam held the door to the employee's locker room open and allowed the couple to enter before she followed them in. Eric was a little surprised that they didn't go to his office, but remembered that Sookie's brother Jason was passed out on his couch. _Useless, lazy jackass. _

Pam stayed near the door, guarding the only exit by leaning against it. Sookie just pulled Eric along until he was sitting down next to her on one of the long benches in the middle of the room. Once seated Sookie didn't let go of his hand, she just held their clasped hands in her lap, stroking the top of his hand comfortingly.

Eric could say nothing, so it was a good thing that Pam was there. "What the fuck happened to you Sookie?"

"Well that's a fine how do you do Pamela. Honestly do you kiss your maker with that mouth?" Eric could tell that Pam wanted to laugh, but she didn't.

Pamela continued with her questioning, not letting Sookie's joking manner throw her off. "Are you Sookie Stackhouse? If so, what happened to you? Who turned you? What happened to your brother? Who were you talking to on the phone? Why do you smell of magic?"

"Jeez Louise! Could you make it more difficult for me to answer your questions? I mean Sugar, we don't all have photographic memory vaults in are heads y'know." Eric knew he should say something to prompt Sookie to answer Pamela's questions but it was if someone had stolen his voice, or rather his will to use it. He had not lost the ability to use his limbs though.

Eric reached out his hand towards Sookie's now flawless face. He cupped her cheek and watched as her eyes closed as he stroked her face. Without preamble, Eric pulled her face into his and kissed her. This time he was not in shock and so he controlled the kiss. He slipped deftly past her lips with his tongue only to explore her fangs and the inside of her mouth thoroughly. He wanted to cup the back of her neck, to further control the ferocity of the kiss, but he found he wanted to keep holding her hand even more. It was the kind of gentle gesture he associated with his human paramour, and he was glad to see that in her vampire incarnation she had not lost all traces of tenderness as many newborn vampires do. As he drew back from her lips he heard a mewling whine escape her throat, and just like that Eric found his voice.

"There is no doubt in my mind that she is Sookie Stackhouse." His words were directed at Pam, but he was looking into Sookie's clouded blue eyes as he spoke them.

"Gold star Viking." Eric could hear Pam tapping her foot in annoyance.

"Why can I no longer feel you through the blood bond?" Eric asked, ignoring some of the more pressing questions that needed answering. He couldn't help but stare at their joined hands.

"I…w—okay. So it's like this. I am Sookie Stackhouse; you're right about that. However, I am not _your_ Sookie Stackhouse, not yet. I am…May I ask if today is April 3rd, 2010?"

Pam actually stomped her foot as she spoke, "NO YOU MAY NOT! YOU HAVE NOT ANSWERED _OUR_ QUESTIONS YET!" Eric simply nodded 'yes' that she was correct.

"Yes, well, to indirectly answer your question," Sookie's bemused expression indicated to Eric that she found Pam's little outburst as entertaining as he did. "Given that the date at present, is April 3rd 2010, I can confirm that I am Sookie Stackhouse of the not too distant future. 47 years to be precise. And I have time traveled here in pursuit of someone trying to kill me, well, the younger me."

Eric's eyes bulged out of his head. Pam's jaw dropped. And Sookie just smiled amused at the havoc she had wrought. Pam moved away from the door and now stood close to the couple.

"How is that possible? Time travel…is that even possible Eric?" Pam looked to him as she often did for answers, yet Eric found himself without any. He had no idea if time travel was possible. He had never encountered any actual time travelers in his thousand years on Earth nor heard any stories of _reliable_ vampires experiencing time travel. As far as Eric knew time travel was the of overachieving science fiction writers and entertaining philosophical/physics theories. And yet...

"Like most things, it wasn't possible until it was. I'm not saying it's like prevalent or anything. Like people can't take guided tours through time. And I didn't use a time machine to get here." Sookie beckoned them both closer, and as Eric and Pam leaned in closer Sookie lowered her voice as if to tell them a secret. "I used magic, hence the smell their of."

"Ugh! Sookie, magic? Honestly haven't you learnt anything from Amelia's magical blunders or Eric's foray into the land of limited knowledge? MAGIC is not to be trifled with _or _trusted." Sookie rolled her eyes as Pam crossed her arms across her chest.

"Yeah well, some guy, who I don't know if I should tell you about, because the rules about changing the future are kind of...conflicted and...complex, but _hey! _HEY! This is my chance to get to be all cryptic and secret keeper-y with you guys! That's gonna be a change and also so much fun! Well, for me." Sookie's face fell a little as she saw his expression glaring at her.

"Sorry, um, back on topic…where was I again?"  
Pam began tapping her foot again. "Some guy.."

"Oh yeah, sooo, some guy figured this time travel magic formula thing out and he wrote a book with detailed instructions and other new wacky spells in it. And everyone told me the book was like the coolest secret magical book ever. Seriously, Amelia would not shut up about how the book held all the knowledge of a genius's life's work and the old dude was trying to sell it so as a favor to her I got in on the bidding for it, because she really is a good friend and as my hunky honey pointed out, a valuable ally." Eric nodded agreeing with his older self's assessment of her witch friend.

"But check this out! The guy wrote the freaking book by _hand!_ Crazy right? And thus it was the only one of it's kind and thus everyone was after it. Which is ridiculous because who the hell doesn't have a computer now a days? I mean come on!" Sookie was about ten decibels away from screaming at them in frustration before she shook her head, pinched the flesh of her thigh and seem to snap out of her tirade to once again continue on with her story.

"...Anyway, so eventually the old guy burned the book in a grand spectacle filled to the brim with all sorts of Supe's in attendance." Sookie then looked mildly sad for a moment before she broke out in a slightly crazed grin.

"I guess he didn't like everyone trying to steal it and/or kill him for it, which I totally relate to by the way. For him I guess, the book was sort of like the one ring except it was just a book and it didn't talk to you or make you act like an asshole to your closest friends." Eric could feel Pam's patience dwindling with each amusing tangent Sookie's story took her on. Eric just smiled at Sookie who was staring at Pam's now rapidly tapping foot. _She must be aware of Pam's dwindling patience and yet Sookie seems unable to stop herself from going off topic. Perhaps she's just nervous._

"...when he burned the book all these Supe's went after him to kill him out of spite. Or maybe because they lost the opportunity to go back and right the wrongs in their lives. Me and a few others stood by his side and tried to save him." Eric stroked Sookie's hand soothingly, he heard a mixture of sorrow and understanding in her voice that troubled him.

Sookie's eyes moved to the wall behind his head and her voice lost emotion as she spoke. "But, he told us to stand down and let the mob have him. He was dying of cancer and no amount of money from selling the book or going back in time could save him from his fate."

Sookie shook her head and removed her hand from Eric's and began taking her hair out of the pigtails she had it up in. "So the guy got dead. And with the book destroyed everyone dispersed. Couple weeks later I hear through grapevine about this low level huckster/scavenger thief type, trying to sell the dead guy's notebook. The guy's assistant assured me it was legit and so I gave Amelia money to go buy it, but before she could get her hands on it, the huckster showed up in a ditch in the Mojave desert. It was so annoying."

Eric noted that Pam had stopped tapping her foot. He could feel the slight wave of lust coming from her, or maybe he was projecting his own, because Sookie was finger combing her hair out and she smelled almost as good as she did human. And her long golden locks looked sexy as hell framing her face like that, especially because she kept clicking her fangs in and out as she did it.

"And as soon as _that happened_ this other guy, a bad guy, a bad guy who hates me and wants to destroy me because he can't find a way to um, uh...maneuver me into is retinue/ownership stopped his near constant assault for my allegiance. Now I, having watched you and Eric navigate the world of vampire politics for several years now, anticipated that this bad guy might try and pull something over on me, although I never really anticipated this scenario...I mean really who expects an assassination attempt to be attempted using new and untested magics that could possibly end up with the universe going all pear shaped?"

Pam rolled her eyes as Sookie once again went off on a tangent. Eric could feel her impatience and worry through their bond. Eric loudly cleared his throat the way humans sometimes did to silently and subtlety cue each other to stop what they were doing and acknowledge the presence of other beings in the room.

Sookie looked down and put her fangs away sheepishly. "Sorry, so taking Eric and the fictional character Mad Eye Moody's 'CONSTANT VILIGANCE' mantra to heart I planted a spy among the Villain's people like, early on, before he became such a threat. So…. when the bad guy got the notebook and hatched his little plan to come back to the past and kill me when I was still human, I was informed by my mole..."

Sookie quickly shifted her gaze between Pam and Eric, "You guys with me so far?"

They nodded. "Good."

…..!…!…..

To Be Continued…Almost Immediately 

**A/N: REVIEW ME PLEASE! Any guesses as to what Sookie's new power is? Extra cookies for anyone who guesses right. **

**Also TELL ME IN YOUR REVIEW-If you want me to discontinue the little recaps at the beginning of the new chapters.**

**Theories, likes, dislikes, questions, comments, encouragement, critique and declarations of undying devotion are all welcome so please don't be shy.**

**REPEAT: I **have no beta, all mistakes are mine, but some grammar mistakes are intentional.

All quotes found at thinkquoteexist.

_I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, said Alice, because I'm not myself you see._

_-Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll_


	6. Mitigation

4

A/N: **Again thoughts are in **_italics. _

ALSO THANK YOU TO everyone who put this story on Alert and who Favorite'd it and Favorite'd me. It's the only reason why I'd try to write this thing over again. So please continue to review.

…..!…!…..

Recap:

_Sookie looked down and put her fangs away sheepishly. "Sorry, so taking Eric and the fictional character Mad Eye Moody's 'CONSTANT VILIGANCE' mantra to heart I planted a spy among the Villain's people like, early on, before he became such a threat. So…. when the bad guy got the notebook and hatched his little plan to come back to the past and kill me when I was still human, I was informed by my mole..." _

_Sookie quickly shifted her gaze between Pam and Eric, "You guys with me so far?" _

_ They nodded. "Good."_

…..!…!…..

Chapter 6: Mitigation

_!_

_A generation which ignores history has no past and no future. _

_-Robert Heinlein_

!

Pam noted that even though Sookie was relating her extraordinary tale of time travel, political intrigue, and murder, the girls focus was once again on Eric's face, his eyes specifically. Her stare held the same level of adoration/joy she displayed when she first set eyes on him back in the bar.

Pam bet that she was even comparing the color to the ocean or pondering their ability to see through to the very soul of her being or their intensity or any other flowery eye related clichés. Though Pam could not see her master's eyes she had no doubt he was making googley eyes right back at the barmaid. It was almost pathetic. _Almost._

"…so, the bad guy supposedly went back to the-now or he's going to send back his bad guy minions to do his dirty work. Knowing him, I think he'll probably just use minions cause he, the bad guy I mean, is lazy-and you know what-let's just stop referring to him as the 'bad guy' and call him…the villain, or ummm, Villain #1."

"Is there a villain #2 that we have yet to hear about?" Pam inquired as she resisted the urge to resumed tapping her foot. It was troubling how many times Eric and she had had to refocus Sookie.

"No. Well. Not as far as I know." Sookie quirked her head to the side, "Villain #1 just sounds much more dignified. Don't ya think?"

"I think you should cut the cute bullshit and just tell us who to kill so you can go home." Sookie gave her a determined glare.

"I can't do that Pam. I can't do to the Villain #1, what he wants to do me, because there are some things I don't want to change." Sookie gazed at Eric's face adoringly before she used her index finger to trace a path down Eric's nose to his lips where she tapped them once before letting her hand fall limply to her lap.

"There are some things I'm worried I can't change. And then there are some things I'm afraid to change. Altering the time line is new territory all around. And I want to do as little damage as I can. Least I cease to exist...Pink devil's wearing gorrila costumes having tea with bulls drinking from fine china and whatnot... " Sookie looked at the door as she mumbled indecipherable nonsense to herself.

"What?" Pam shot a glance at her maker to him wearing a similar WTF face.

"Nothing...sorry. Sometimes wires get crossed and thoughts become tangled and all that comes out is word vomit." Sookie looked away from Eric bashfully.

Pam rolled her eyes to hide her concern from Sookie, but Pam was seriously questioning the state of the young vampire's mental faculties. Eric shot her a warning look, having, of course felt Pam's distress for/about Sookie. Eric touched Sookie's shoulder drawing her back to them and away from her momentary embarrassment.

Pam did not appreciate the look or the push of calm he pushed through their bond, she did not need to be told to keep her concerns to herself. She wasn't a newborn. Besides she'd dealt with Bubba. Possible crazy vampires were always something to be wary of. However, this was Sookie they were talking about, what did the humans call her? _Ah yes, crazy Sookie._ _Human's did have a knack for labeling things. _

As Sookie resumed talking, effectively stealing all of Eric's attention, Pam took the opportunity to stick her tongue out at her maker.

Eric's voice was strong but gentle as he asked a question that Pam knew had been weighing heavily on his mind, "Why can I no longer feel you through our blood bond?"

_And now I feel guilt. Just great._

_!_

_I like men who have a future and women who have a past. _

_-Oscar Wilde_

!

Eric was suppressing his emotions out of habit. He allowed himself to chastise and be angry with Pam for feeling the things he was afraid to. But he could not deny the growing worry over the way Sookie was acting. The Sookie he had known was always very level headed in times of crisis and quick to cut to the chase. This Sookie however, kept getting distracted; Eric suspected that her turning had been a little like Bubba's. _Or perhaps she is just experiencing a form of magical jet lag. _

Eric was also worried over the how, the why, and by whom concerning Sookie's turning. _If I was her maker and I botched her turning, I don't think I could ever forgive myself. If I failed to rescue her from another attack like the one she suffered at the hands Lochlan and Neave, if my absence forced another to turn her and something went wrong..._

"…So either the Villain or his minion's were sent back to this time to kill the human version of myself. Once my mole told me this I had him steal the notebook and give me an estimate of what year the Villain planned on going back to. I had to sort of guess when he would go back, I picked now because it's so soon after the fairy torture incident, I was banking on the Villain perceiving me to be weak at this time. So, Amelia and I cooked up the spell and sent me back to save myself. It's all very girl power dontcha think?"

Eric couldn't stop him from selfishly thinking, _Why didn't I come back with you? _There was a pit in his stomach that would not stop growing. The pit was filled with despair for the loss of their blood bond, hatred for those who were trying to harm this Sookie in the future, regret for Sookie having to become a creature like him, and a whole host of other things. But the feeling he felt most was shame. For, here was his bonded, not alive but well, and she held all the secrets of their future, and all he could think was she kissed him, she was looking at him...like she missed him.

Pamela's eyebrows were raised so high they nearly touched her hairline. "You expect us to believe that?"

"**You do believe me Pam.** Besides, I have no reason to lie." Sookie held Pam's gaze confidently before turning to look into his own eyes. Begging with him to believe her unbelievable tale of time travel and treachery too.

Holding her gaze Eric said, "You didn't answer my question dear one, why can I no longer feel you through the blood bond?"

Sookie immediately looked away towards the wall. Eric reached out grabbed her chin and dragged her gaze back to meet his. "Tell me lover."

Sookie gulped and Eric could see the blood welling up in her eyes as she fought back tears. "I…I picked this day because this was when my telepathy went haywire and I collapsed because of it. I thought if I came back to this day, I would be able to stop the Villain _and_ maybe leave a note with tips and advice on dealing with my increased telepathic power."

Pam spoke with rarely seen uncertainty in her voice, "So our version of Sookie is now undergoing a telepathic upgrade and her fainting episode at work was related to that and _not_ your arrival?"

"Yeah." Sookie seemed to deflate a little; like the novelty of the experience was wearing thin and she was beginning to fray at the edges.

Pam seemed intrigued but Eric was irritated at Sookie's adept avoidance regarding the information he wanted to know by telling him of information he wanted to know. He needed mitigation from his darkest fears. _Why are we no longer blood bonded?_

Eric tapped Sookie on the nose to get her attention back. "That still does not answer my question little one."

Sookie looked at him her face very stoic but her eyes very sad. "I don't wanna answer your question."

Eric just blurted out what he really wanted to know, it was a novel experience as he was certain he had never blurt out any words ever before. But his curiosity and sense of self preservation could no longer be contained. "Am I finally dead in your time?"

Sookie immediately look down at the floor. She hunched her shoulder's a little more. And then she whispered, "No."

Eric had only felt relief like this once before, when he learned Sookie had survived the torture of Lochlan and Neave. Eric also felt Pam's happiness at knowing he was still alive in the immediate future. He reached out with the bond, trying to sense how Sookie felt, but he just hit a wall of nothingness between them.

Eric was confused by Sookie's body language as it read despair and told him she needed comfort, news of his continued existence shouldn't inspire such a response from his beloved. _Unless somehow I am the villain of her story? I know that if I were the villain, I would like to be referred to as the #1 Villain rather than just the generic 'bad guy'. Perhaps...NO. Impossible...unless I am once again under a spell of some kind... _

Sookie spoke with a lilt in her voice. "You used to tell me, to wish you were, is a waste of time, as one must be productive, if one is to stand, the test of time. Wow that rhymed." And then she giggled a bit madly.

…..!…!…..

To Be Continued…Almost Immediately 

**REVIEW!**

**Theories, likes, dislikes, questions, comments, encouragement, critique and declarations of undying devotion are all welcome so please don't be shy.**

**REPEAT: I **have no beta, all mistakes are mine, but some grammar mistakes are intentional.

All quotes found at thinkquoteexist.

I like men who have a future and women who have a past. -Oscar Wilde

A generation which ignores history has no past and no future. -Robert Heinlein


	7. Exposition

A/N: Just so you know chapters 5, 6, 7, 8 & maybe 9 are really just one huge chapter I broke up cause it's the biggest exposition scene in my story, and really, it's just one long ass scene anyway. I'll return to switching POV once I finish this scene.

A/N: **Again thoughts are in **_italics. _REPEAT: I have no beta, all mistakes are mine, but some grammar mistakes are intentional.

ALSO THANK YOU TO everyone who put this story on Alert and who Favorite'd it and Favorite'd me. It's the only reason why I'd try to write this thing over again. So please continue to review.

Also I KNOW ITS Annoying that I am not answering certain questions and that it is a little confusing...but I figure I'm tackling the headache that is time travel and therefore deserve slack.

…..!…!…..

Recap:

_ Eric was confused by Sookie's body language as it read despair and told him she needed comfort, news of his continued existence shouldn't inspire such a response from his beloved. Unless somehow I am the villain of her story? I know that if I were the villain, I would like to be referred to as the #1 Villain rather than just the generic 'bad guy'. Perhaps...NO. Impossible...unless I am once again under a spell of some kind..._

_Sookie spoke with a lilt in her voice. "You used to tell me, to wish you were, is a waste of time, as one must be productive, if one is to stand, the test of time. Wow that rhymed." And then she giggled a bit madly._

…..!…!…..

Chapter 7: Exposition

_!_

_With great power comes great responsibility. _

_-Ben Parker, Spiderman_

!

Rather than let the tension in the room suffocate them all to annoyance (because they were already dead), Pam decided to just change the subject. "So what exactly does a 'telepathic upgrade' mean? Will you be able to read the mind of Were's and other Supe's more clearly? Or will you move on from humanoid's and be like that man Dr. Dolittle?"

Sookie immediately perked up at the chance to escape answering a question she obviously didn't want to answer. "No, I will still not be able to read real animals, although that would be cool...not as cool as having laser eyes, but cool."

Pam watched with interest as Sookie reached out once again to take comfort in Eric's touch. This time she sought to cradle one of his large hands in between her two tiny ones. "So anyway, like I said, in my past, today, is the day the dam in my head broke…metaphorically speaking."

"Get literal." Pam retorted.

"Okay, literally my mental shields broke down due to a massive power surge of unknown in origin. It's my belief that my telepathy just grew organically. That or aliens did it." Sookie gave Pam a wink to indicate that she was joking. Pam smiled in response, glad to know that all was not lost of her telepathic friends humor.

"...Sam and Amelia are all in the camp of suspecting someone nefarious was behind the increase in my power. Even though its a mystery as to what caused the power surge, I do know that it was so massive that my mental shields were torn to pieces and I went into a coma for a couple hours and woke up with a new ability. And a massive hangover. And a degenerative telepathic ability. And a itchy nose."

Pam leaned forward crowding Eric's back, "What new ability?"

Just as Eric leaned in closer to ask, "What's wrong with your telepathy?"

Sookie smiled wryly, "My new ability...well, I kinda want that to be a surprise," Sookie winked twice, teasing Pam and causing her to frown. _Sookie's enjoying holding all the cards a little too much. _

And just like that Sookie was once again staring into Eric's eyes as if she were begging him for something or perhaps she was looking for something in him that she just couldn't find. Understanding maybe? _Well, if Sookie's looking so hard for understanding she should get better at weaving a tale composed mostly of exposition and trivial tangents._

"Constant white noise was the world I lived in. I used to think of my telepathy as having a volume button, one I could lower or raise in volume. One that allowed me to selectively listen to each thought within my vicinity. But ultimately forced me to live with constant white noise humming in the background, ever-present but ultimately ignorable." Sookie suddenly stood up and went to the first locker and ripped it open and began examining the contents inside before she shut the door and moved on to the next one.

"Now, I don't have that static in my head, it's more like classical music that plays in the background at a party. You know it's on cause it contributes to the ambience but you don't really listen each song as it plays, you know unless you were making a concentrated effort to do so." Sookie looked in the next locker, shut the door and opened the next one.

"Just like before my mind is filled with the thoughts of everyone around me, all the time, but now I deal with more thoughts and greater visual representation of thoughts, not just word thoughts." Open. Look. Shut.

"Except with vampires."

Sookie smiled genuinely, "Yes. Except with vampires who I couldn't hear at all, which was awesome cause you guys just gave my head the rest it needed. Unfortunately _now_ I hear everything all the time I can't ignore it. My hearing range is twice what it used to be. And I can read further into human minds without physical contact." Sookie opened the last locker looked inside and pulled a little baggie before shutting it.

"Your waitress Dina is a drug dealer. She's got a narcotic's cop on her ass and she's using this place to peddle low level sedative's. You should probably look into that." Sookie threw the drugs at Pam who caught them easily. Sookie slid onto the bench next to Eric as if she had never gotten up in the first place.

"When my power increased and I woke up from my little coma I had lost the ability to shut everyone out, I needed to completely rebuild my mental shields from scratch...it was a lot harder to do the second time than it was when I was growing up. I don't know why that is...it got so bad at one point that I had to go into isolation for several months to get the white noise/classical music experience back."

Pam really wanted to what kind of incident could lead the stubborn southern bell to even consider cutting herself from all her little friends and the shambles of normalcy she so desperately tried to maintain in her life. _She must have 'cracked up' as they say, in a spectacular meltdown of craziness. Next year I'll buy her that movie Girl, Interrupted for Christmas, or maybe One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest. _

Eric proved that he was much more adept than Pam at processing everything Sookie was and wasn't saying when he astutely asked, "Except with vampires whom you COULD not hear, as in past tense?"

_Uh oh. _

Sookie smiled slowly then, letting her fangs down as she turned to Pam and said, "I'm partial to Girl, Interrupted myself, I've always been a fan of Winona." _Oh crap stop think-_

"It won't help you Pam, no matter how hard you try you can't stop thinking." Pam just stared blankly at the wall above Sookie's head, avoiding her eyes, and trying to quiet her mind. _Well this is an unsettling turn of events._

_!_

_Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. _

_-Dr. Seuss_

!

Eric cupped Sookie's cheek turning her gloating face away from his progeny, back to meet his gaze as he searched her face for any signs of deceit. "Lover why do I get the feeling that you still cannot read my thoughts?"

"Because your a highly intuitive man Eric." Eric let his had fall away from Sookie's porcelain skin.

"Explain." Sookie raised an eyebrow at him in a near perfect imitation of Pam. "Please." He added.

"My ability on who I can hear increased so much that I can now hear vampire thoughts, my ability to hear other Supe's more clearly also increased, my ability to hear you became as easy as breathing. We were-ARE so connected by the blood bond that I could hardly remember who was who and when I was me. Regrettably, the ability to read _your _mind proved to be too much for me to handle and drove me insane. Hence time away in isolation." Sookie looked away and then back at him.

"Even more regrettably, my absence combined with the strength of our bond which despite vast distances still transmitted our thoughts to one another, also drove you insane." Eric opened his mouth to speak but Sookie held up a hand silencing him.

"Please hold all questions till the end of my elucidation, that's my word of the day by the way." Eric heard Pam chuckle over his shoulder but his eyes never left Sookie's face.

"Right now, I can hear everyone in the bar. Everyone on line outside the club waiting to get in. I can hear all the people in the parking lot. And if I concentrate I can sift through them and pick out individual people, thoughts, creatures, and I can do all that without leaving this room. But, If I open up our blood bond again. And yes, Eric, " She grabbed both his hands then. "I am the one who has severed the tie between us, because if I open you up to me, to my feelings, to my mind, my power, it will overcome us and all will be lost."

Eric was so pained. He squeezed Sookie's hands so hard that if she were human he would have broken bone. He could feel the tear sliding down his cheek. It was a cruel fate to have her power increase only to damn the connection they both coveted so much.

"I'm so sorry Eric, I know you must have thought I was dead or something but when I went crazy and lashed out at people, I screamed at them to shut up, I talked to people who weren't there, I went catatonic. But you? You could feel my insanity, my pain, but as soon as you did, it became your own. And the more my instability affected you, the worse I got, then the worse you got, then me then you and blah blah and so forth etcetera.

"You see? Our bond just perpetuated this cycle of sharing pain and insanity. Which is bad. Obviously. Cause crazy Sookie is bad, but crazy Viking is homicidal. Ultimately you went on a killing spree so massive that the public noticed and Felipe DeCastro had to step in to save face for the VRA."

Eric was in shock.

"It took Felipe, Pam, Bill, Sam, Bubba, Jason and a couple panthers from Hotshot and my cousin Claude as bait to finally immobilize you enough to sedate you."

"Sedate me? Felipe didn't have me killed?" Sookie shook her head.

"I made a deal with some head honcho's, got us whisked off to Alaska for some R&R. We got some much needed alone time. Away from people, isolated by nature, and the ocean, it was really fun vacation."

Pam spoke up then, reminding Eric that his progeny was still in the room. "Why aren't you more incoherent now, I mean, you know from my thoughts that I think your off like Bubba is, but I want to know if that is because of your increased telepathy or because of how you were turned, or is this new ability you gain that you think I've forgotten about the culprit?"

Sookie's expression was somber, "I won't lie, my turning wasn't ideal, but that was something that just exacerbated the symptoms of our insanity."

Eric was puzzled by Pam who was inching closer to the door so slowly that it was even hard for Eric to see what she was doing. Sookie following his gaze turned to look at Pam over her shoulder, "If you feel more comfortable by the door just walk over to it Pam. I'm not an animal in the woods, you don't have to worry about spooking me and you never worried about offending me before so why start now?"

Eric glared at his progeny, disappointed that she would fear Sookie's ability just like the humans did. _Or perhaps she could be trying to get a away from me. After all it apparently took 5 vampires, a handful of were panthers and a fairy to take me down._

"I've got a lot of control over my mind just not enough for the amount of power that I now wield...Eric and I, back in Alaska. would camp or rent houses closer and closer to towns, allowing me to practice my ability from a distance and slowly increase the difficulty over time until I could fully integrate myself back into society as a not so crazy person."

Eric smiled at Sookie and then pulled her in for a kiss. He bit her bottom lip and gripped the back of her head tightly as he poured his passion for her into her mouth. Hopefully proving that even if Pam didn't trust her, he did. And he always would. As they broke apart, he noticed Pam had taken a few steps away from the door and towards them. _Baby steps maybe, but progress is progress. _

…..!…!…..

To Be Continued…Next week sometime before Friday 

**SHOW ME SOME LOVE & MOTIVATION BY REVIEWING!**

Theories, likes, dislikes, questions, comments, encouragement, critique and declarations of undying devotion are all welcome so please don't be shy.

QUOTES IN CHAPTER:

With great power comes great responsibility.

-Ben Parker, Spiderman

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

-Dr. Seuss


End file.
